How to Fly from San Diego to Mexican Destinations for Under $50 Round Trip

Latest Tip: Use a Stopover to See and Save More

Living on an international border certainly has its perks. San Diego and Tijuana are two adjacent large cities separated by international ties.

I’m not sure how well known this trick is, but I’d hope that San Diego residents looking to travel to Mexico have heard of it.

For $30 round trip you can use the Cross Border Xpress to cross the border into Mexico. This is a pedestrian bridge for the Tijuana airport located in San Diego.

So, instead of booking expensive tickets to Mexican cities from San Diego, you can book from Tijuana to save a lot of money.

Let’s say you wanted to go to Mexico City from March 13th to the 20th.

From San Diego:

It’ll cost you a minimum of $403 to travel from San Diego to Mexico City with a stop in LA. Now let’s see what the prices are like from Tijuana.

From Tijuana:

We now have a direct flight and have managed to save $283 just by switching the airport to Tijuana. After the $30 fee for the Cross Border Xpress, you’re still saving over $250.

Some of the VivaAerobus flights from Tijuana are incredibly cheap. Just look at this fare to Monterrey:

How about Guadalajara….

The fare differences between San Diego and Tijuana are enormous. The cheapest fares from SAN to Guadalajara are over $400 and it’s over $700 to get to and from Monterrey.

This means it makes sense to cross the border to Tijuana to plan cheaper vacations.

You could always cross at the San Ysidro border crossing and take a taxi to the airport instead of using the Cross Border Xpress. This would save money but is less convenient.

Either way, I hope readers from San Diego take advantage of the city’s proximity to Tijuana when traveling to other places in Mexico.

If you’re from another part of the US, you might think about booking a cheap flight to San Diego to do the same. This could be a risky strategy as you’d have to book separate itineraries.

But, if you give yourself enough time to make your flight in Tijuana, you can save a lot of money by using this strategy. You could even stopover in San Diego for a few days, as it is a great place to spend time.